2008 Woodie Awards
Technological corruption of the human spirit in our times
Where is the value on our society? Where is the value on the self?
Nathan Garcia
Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
He finds it fascinating and makes the peculiar remark "No wonder your president [Ronald Reagan] has to be an actor; he's gotta look good on TV." This is incredibly insightful insofar that I think technology has replaced for many of us our own analytical capability to judge character and see past the white smile and kissing of babies.
Nowadays, there is a litmus test that a president must be "viewable" and therefore must be great in front of large audiences and make good speeches and be charismatic.
Look out our past presidents: Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and even George W. Bush.
With such pressure on the candidates to perform perfectly at all events in the public eye, one must wonder whether other great presidents could have survived. Lincoln was a horrible orator and had a high-pitched voice. Could somebody of his brilliance and leadership get elected in today's world?…Never. With such emphasis on TV and viewing the candidates superficially at various functions it is no wonder why we haven't seen better presidents.
I turn on the TV and see nothing but stupid reality shows and comedies where the more vulgar and sexually-euphemistic it sounds the better. Is this what we're doing in our spare time? It has been theorized that leisure is the basis of society because it is with leisure time given that people can most be creative and paint pictures, compose symphonies, write books and thereby contribute to the society and give it definition and vitality.
But because of our abuse of technology on a daily basis like the iPod, reality T.V., and just bad substantively-lacking music we've degraded ourselves into becoming a society that is being defined by media and what is popular.
I'd like to see less human dependence on technology and more human spirit in creativity and brilliance.
I can scarcely imagine what it might have been like to live at Saint Mary's fifty years ago. AIM, cell phones, text messages, and e-mails didn't exist. And so it must have been that a dormitory with students in an academic environment would have talked closely and personally to one another. Face-to-face and genuine discussion must have been prevalent.